Kathryn Price is a liar. But don't get any misconceptions she's not a bad person. Instead, she was actually paid to be conniving, deceitful and duplicitous.
As the recently revealed title character on ABC's reality game show, "The Mole," Price was paid by producers to infiltrate the contestant pool and thwart the chances of the players to win a $1 million prize. For the Kansas University alum, it was a chance to be someone else for awhile.
Kathryn Price
"There was less pressure on me," Price says in a recent phone interview. "I didn't have to worry about getting kicked off. I liked the idea that I got to stay the whole time. I'm a straightforward person, so this was a chance to be devious and sneaky.
The Wichita native, who holds a bachelor's degree in political science from KU and a law degree from Stanford, enjoyed watching reality TV programs like "Survivor." When auditions for "The Mole" opened up in Chicago, where she was about to take a teaching position, she took a chance and tried out for a role.
She ended up changing her career trajectory.
She first auditioned in Chicago. After being called back for a second, she was then flown to Los Angeles to meet with producers.
"They were looking for people with diverse backgrounds to get an interesting mix," Price says. "They liked my contrast in that I had an academic background but a wholesome Midwest demeanor."
At the interview, Price was offered the spot as the mole, the group's saboteur who would spend the whole show undermining the contestant's efforts to win prize money. That means she was paid a negotiated flat rate by the producers and lost her chance at winning the big prize. But the payoff for Price was multi-layered. On the program, she would get to portray a character unlike herself. She would participate in an on-going mystery, which was a draw since she's an avid espionage buff, and it would give her multi-media exposure.
"It was a combination of acting and lying," Price says.
Dangerous game
The premise of "The Mole" follows an intricate cat-and-mouse scenario. Players must band together to overcome challenges. Each time they do, prize money goes into a collective pot. The mole's role is to keep them from working together and lessen the chances of a big money payout. After each episode, contestants are quizzed on what they thought they've figured out about the mole's identity. The player who knows the least amount of correct information is asked to leave at the end of each episode.
The debut season filmed during the fall of last year. Ultimately, Price and two others of the original 10 players were left, and the winner walked away with $510,000, about half of the potential earnings. So Price accomplished her mission quite successfully. But while it may have been over for the others, this was only part of the role-playing for Price. First, to even be on the show she had to decline the teaching position waiting for her in Chicago.
"I had to quit my job before I knew I had been picked for 'The Mole,'" Price says. "I couldn't miss four weeks of work in the teaching position. So I took a chance I would get picked."
Next came the really sneaky part: Price could not tell family or friends that she had even been filming the series until after it wrapped shooting and ABC announced the cast. That meant friends were baffled when Price left her job and Chicago and essentially disappeared for a month, and then refused to reveal where she had been.
"My friends thought something was wrong with me. They thought I'd had a nervous breakdown," she says.
After the show was announced, Price could breath easier, but not much easier. She still could not divulge that she had been the mole until all the episodes were aired. After awhile, misleading everyone became second nature to the lawyer/game show actress. And the creators gave her an extra incentive. If Price had spilled any secrets beforehand, they would file a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit.
"Once you don't tell someone something, the secret gets easier to keep," Price says.
Fringe benefits
The show itself was rewarding to Price. It provided viewers with an involved plot, minus the skin-and-tease featured in many reality programs. For Price, who had once thought of auditioning for "Survivor," it was a classy four weeks. "The Mole" contestants traveled and dined in luxury and filmed episodes in France, Spain and Monaco.
In other words, they didn't eat rats or have to butcher boars on this TV gig.
"We were treated well. It was first class all the way," Price says.
And like other reality cast members, Price knows the media exposure is priceless. She'd like a writing career, and she's written a mystery novel and is working on a screenplay. She has met with talent and literary agents, and has done interviews on the syndicated "Access Hollywood," MTV and E!
She's not going back to law for awhile.
"I'm keeping my options open," she says. "Right now I'm unemployed."
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